U.S. patent application No. 06/938,082, filed Nov. 28, 1986, European application No. 0072063, discloses a known electrical cable assembly comprising, an insulative housing, electrical contacts spaced apart along the housing, connecting portions of the contacts are in a first plane and form wire connections in the first plane with corresponding signal wires of the cable, connecting portions of a ground bus are in a second plane and form wire connections in the second plane with corresponding ground wires of the cable, one or more tabs connect the ground bus to corresponding selected contacts, and the longer of the wires extend from their wire connections toward a cable entry without intersecting the plane of the wire connections of the shorter wires.
In the known electrical cable assembly, the cable entry is one hundred eighty degrees from the front of the assembly. Thereby the assembly is known as a one hundred eighty degree cable assembly or a rear entry cable assembly. Another known electrical cable assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,360, wherein the cable entry is ninety degrees from the front of the assembly. Thereby the assembly is known as a ninety degree cable assembly or a side entry cable assembly. Industry specifications require a side entry cable assembly that is capable of versatile construction such that the cable can enter either one side of the assembly or an opposite side of the assembly.
In the known rear entry cable assembly, the bus bar is along a side of the connector assembly and in the way of wires extending toward a cable entry along the same side. The wires would intersect the plane of the bus bar, and would be likely to engage the bus bar and incur undesired electrical shorting to the bus bar. Accordingly, the known rear entry cable assembly is not capable of construction such that the cable can enter either side of the assembly. The known rear entry cable assembly includes a cable strain relief at the rear of the connector. The strain relief increases to the length of the assembly, as measured from front to rear.